With Darrelle Revis on the bench with a strained hamstring, the man who’s had a so-so season so far (the Hard Knocks moment where he seemed to struggle to remember his kids’ names, the struggle to cover the Ravens receivers in Revis’ absence in Week 1, the 66-yard interception return against Baltimore’s Joe Flacco) was the one who helped inspire his team to victory against the Patriots.

That’d be Antonio Cromartie, who, according to the NY Daily News, delivered a halftime speech last Sunday in which he said it was time for the Jets to start correcting their mistakes.

From the story:

Cromartie first pointed the finger at himself. He had been as guilty as anyone else, giving up a 6-yard touchdown to Wes Welker by inexplicably playing off coverage near the end zone.

Then, the former Pro Bowler demanded that his teammates in the secondary raise their game. Brady had carved them up for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Cromartie, frankly, was fed up.

"The front seven was doing a hell of a job applying pressure," Cromartie told the Daily News. "Everything bad that happened was happening on the back end. We made a few mistakes and had a little miscommunication. I felt like we weren't holding up our end."

What made the sermon even more effective: Cromartie isn’t known as a fire-and-brimstone kind of guy. And it sounds like the speech he made was calmly delivered.

But obviously, it worked. After Brady had such a good first half, he finished with only 244 yards and two interceptions, and the Patriots were shut out in the second half. Cromartie, who had an interception, played a big role in it.

Our affinity for graphs and charts and purty pictures knows no bounds, so (with a nod to the smartypants at NY Mag ), we present our first-ever NFL approval matrix. Suggestions, complaints and intellecutual property lawsuits may be directed to us on Twitter (@CBSSportsNFL).

In this week’s 10 Stories That Deserve Your Attention, we focused on how LaDainian Tomlinson appears to be handling a much heavier load than expected for the Jets. This is supposed to be Shonn Greene’s backfield. Well, the man Tomlinson essentially replaced, Thomas Jones, is doing the same thing in Kansas City. Jones carried the ball 22 times against the Browns Sunday (83 yards). Jamaal Charles, who is coming off the bench, had 11 carries (49 yards).

Third-round rookie tight end Tony Moeaki led the Chiefs with five catches for 58 yards.

Ndamukong Sun flashed dominance for the second week in a row. Suh recorded a sack against Michael Vick (he may have gotten away with a facemask on the play) and consistently pushed the interior pocket.

Trent Edwards was 11/18 for 102 yards and two picks against the Packers. When Marshawn Lynch ran for 14 yards to end the first quarter, that brought Buffalo’s net yardage on the day back to zero.

Jermichael Finley has his second career 100-yard game. Expect at least five more this season for the best tight end in the NFC.

Should we just go ahead and vote for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award now? Packers linebacker Clay Matthews had three sacks for the second week in a row. This for a guy who sat out virtually the entire preseason with a hamstring injury.

Actually, we’d better not crown Matthews yet. Mario Williams followed his stellar Week 1 performance with a shimmering outing against the Redskins. Williams recorded three sacks, two tackles for a loss and two pass deflections. It’s safe to say the Texans probably don’t win that game without him.

Adrian Peterson rushed for 145 yards on 28 carries against a fairly-staunch Dolphins D. There wasn’t a cheap yard in the bunch. Peterson put on an absolute show late in the second half, showing his familiar powerful burst and uncanny change-of-direction prowess. However, his show came to an abrupt end on the second to last drive, when the Dolphins kept him out of the end zone on four-straight plays from inside the 10.

Chris Johnson had his streak of 100-yard games snapped at 12 by a Steelers D that has given up just one 100-yard rushing performance in its last 36 outings. Johnson managed just 34 yards on 16 carries. He had an 85-yard touchdown called back because of a Eugene Amano holding penalty (even with nose tackle Casey Hampton out, the Titans center had a rough afternoon).

Philip Rivers 334 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and an unofficial 3 screams at his offensive linemen against the Jaguars.

Shawne Merriman got on the field for the first time all season and recorded three tackles.

Tim Hightower was the lone bright spot for the Cardinals. With Beanie Wells still out with a knee injury, the third-year running back carried the entire load Sunday. Hightower rushed for 115 yards on 11 carries, including an 80-yard touchdown scamper in which he showed newfound quickness and acceleration.

Patriots free safety Brandon Meriweather went to the Pro Bowl last season. Through two games this season, he’s been coming off the bench. Meriweather started in Week 1, but only because the Patriots opened the game in their nickel defense. Against the Jets, the starting safeties were James Sanders and Patrick Chung.

So, young Pro Bowl safety a year ago now playing a second-string role? There should be plenty of drama to figure out, right? Not really.

“I haven’t been myself in practice,” Meriweather said in an interview Monday with WEEI. “Coaches wanted to show me that just because I wasn’t, that I still have to come and play. Basically, it’s all my fault that I’m not on the field as much.”

If that’s not refreshing, how about that he even elaborated on the issues in practice? “I was trying a lot of things in camp just to see if they worked,” Meriweather said. “And they weren’t. Instead of me stopping trying them and doing exactly what I was coached, I kept trying them.”

Tip of the hat for the honesty and maturity. In fact, double tip given this is the same guy who entered the league marred – fairly or unfairly – by character red flags (you may recall the University of Miami-Florida International University brawl in 2006, in which Meriweather was stomping on players in the pile).

Meriweather is a talented safety. He has superb range and is willing to lay a lick when approaching a ballcarrier from space. He’s been a good soldier throughout his NFL career and gradually improved in each of his first three seasons in the NFL. He’ll bounce back.

Revis' hamstring was bothering him coming into the game and after Moss beat him for the TD, he pulled up a little lame and went to the locker room. Now it appears as if he won't return.

That puts Antonio Cromartie on Randy Moss -- which is one of the most ridiculously/freakishly athletic matchups you could possibly compose. One would think, however, that Moss would have the advantage and that the Patriots would quickly test him.

They did, but Tom Brady overthrew Moss and Cro picked off a deep ball just short of the Jets end zone.

On Sunday, Randy Moss became the fourth player in NFL history with 150 touchdowns. And he did it in typical Randy Moss form, making an absolutely bananas one-handed catch on a Tom Brady bomb where Darrelle Revis had him blanketed in the end zone. (Revis, by the way, hurt his hamstring again after getting torched by the Freak.)

Moss joins Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and LaDainian Tomlinson in an incredibly elite group of players who found the end zone an incredible number of times during their career. The screen shot above is pure awesomeness, but watch the video below to understand just how valuable Moss, even at his age, really is; the silly athleticism goes without saying.

When the New England Patriots and New York Jets meet Sunday, the biggest matchup to watch will be Darrelle Revis and Randy Moss. That's because they're they've been talking it up and they're a pair of elite players.

Two things; first, this is a smart move by the Jets. Moss is really, really good, but so is Welker, and if they can successfully use Revis to stop Welker and Tom Brady from moving the chains, it'll be a lot harder for New England to take shots to Moss.

That being said, the real gamble here is leaving either Kyle Wilson or Antonio Cromartie alone on Moss -- if Brady and Co. figure out the coverage and adjust so they're taking shots at Moss when he's not on Revis Island, you'd have to think they stand a better chance of scoring some long TDs.